Choosing Jojo Before Going Into a Wonderful World
by Raxychaz
Summary: A different scenario of Choosing Wisely, where ya boy chooses the Stand Arrow to take with him into Belzerg. Where fun and ridiculousness will reign supreme. Now with 50% more leather.
1. Arrown't you Glad?

**This popped into my head after a re-binge, I figured it could be some fun.**

_What if one did reincarnation, but added more Jojo?_

_Only good things can happen._

A young man with short blond hair, dressed up with nowhere to go, appeared within a featureless void, he looked a little out of place even in the inescapable dark what with a black leather jacket, dark blue v-neck, black jeans with dark blue accents and a lot of chains going across the outer side of each leg finished off with a pair of dark leather goth boots.

Because he'd finally gone into a city for once, and goddamn treated himself.

Dark green eyes took in the void and squinted at the sight of light, across from him - only at that moment did he notice he was sitting down - a shaft of light opened to reveal a beautiful young woman.

She had fair skin, like himself though without the freckles, and wore an attire vaguely close to a Nun's, habit and all.

She had short white - vaguely grey - hair, that framed her cute face, and bright purple eyes that had a brilliant spark of life within them.

"Welcome, young Mr. Zachary Waller. To purgatory." Her voice was gentle and welcoming.

Zac felt the same sensation that came with dreaming, like moving was harder - akin to trying to move through water - and sound didn't quite sync up to the things making those sounds.

He tried to respond but couldn't really form a coherent thought.

She looked at him sadly, "I'm very sorry to say but you're dead. You were stabbed in the throat."

His eyes widened but he still couldn't speak, couldn't comprehend what had been said fully.

"You're friends are all well, though they are quite distraught. I'll admit Mr. Waller… I didn't expect to see you so soon, but you do have your mother's features." She said with a smile.

It was like having cold water dumped on his head, "What-when?"

"She does send her regards." The girl said, pleased to have gotten something out of him, before smoothing out her already impeccable dress.

"Most have trouble remembering their moments of death, you had a panic attack that very quickly devolved into a heart attack and finally died in the streets, I'm sorry to say that this happened while you were on the phone to your father…" The girl said, shaking the young man substantially.

"Oh… oh fuck…" It was coming back to him, there was a lot of indescribable similarities to an entirely different part of the country to the one he'd grown up in and the constant deja vu twisted his mind a little that he started to disassociate with the world around him before he suddenly couldn't breath and it was getting progressively harder to see.

It's in the name but sweet lord are panic attacks scary as shit.

Zac's greatest fear was death, and he couldn't even really appreciate the gravity of it since he was more worried about all the vipers he'd left his father to deal with, the old man probably wouldn't be far behind him, given that everyone else in the family had seemingly exiled the two of them after his mother passed.

The young woman continued, "I am Eris. A goddess that watches over a few realms, yours being one of them."

The young man looked at her skeptically, "So what happens now?"

Eris smiled gently spotting the slight edge of anxiety in his voice, "As, you've never performed any great act of evil, and generally lived a just life. Your karmic balance is firmly in the positive."

"Good for me…" He mumbled somewhat shocked, it wasn't that he was a bad person by any stretch of the imagination, but he didn't exactly do anything of great note in his life.

"Now, as a goddess I have a few domains to look after and generally when one passes through purgatory myself or my senior - who is no longer able to - give those that visit us a few options." Eris cleared her throat and sat a little straighter, making the young man do the same.

"You may enter the gates of heaven, reveling in eternal bliss and reunite with your loved ones that you've lost." Eris said, getting a nod of understanding from the man.

"Secondly you may reincarnate into a different world, starting your life anew free from the burden of your past life." He frowned at that, making Eris get a slight chill up her spine.

He seemed pleasant enough but his dress sense made her a slight uneasy.

"Finally you can enter another world that requires help, a world that is being ruled over by a creature known as the Demon King, as a hero to save the world you are able to take an artefact of power and be granted a blessing, though if one is much more powerful than the other, it will have to be mitigated somewhat."

"So what, like I have a space of 100 and have to pick something that fits within that." Zac said with a quirked brow.

Eris nodded, "My senior would compare this world and these gifts to 'RPG's, does that mean anything to you?"

Zachary chuckled, his green eyes sparkling somewhat as delight and glee seemed to radiate from his person from a moment, "Very much so."

Eris felt her spirits lift at such a genuine expression of joy.

With a slight gesture a small book - though holding infinite pages - appeared and sat itself in the young man's lap, "Please take your time to peruse the selection and we may go from there."

Zachary did consider going to heaven before he did anything else but he lived - and died as it were - by something his mother had said to him several times before her passing, 'Live your life, don't let tragedy change who you are.'

He could imagine her looking at him now, telling him to do what he thought was best for him. And whilst he'd do literally anything to see her again, he wasn't ready to give up after 23 years and live the rest of eternity in the clouds.

No, he had more of a life to live before he through in the towel just yet.

Zachary opened the book and several holographic images formed and floated around him, some being dossiers on magic weapons, armour even more sci-fi items.

He looked thoughtful as he seemingly talked to the air, "I think I've got it."

Eris seemingly turned back in, having 'gone' somewhere else during his time, "What have you chosen?"

"I wanna use the **[Stand Arrow] **to go as the kids would say, full Jojo." He said, thoroughly amused by the look on her face, "I'm a little confused as to why it's under the Boon catagory, but whatever."

"As for the artefact, I'd like the **[Fiendish Chains]** because indestructible chains that can immobilise anything sounds busted." He closed the book and smiled, it had a life to it that almost made the air around him sparkle.

Eris nodded, pleased that he'd made his choices. "Considering that the rules of the arrow, I think it would be wise to put a clause in it that makes it so that the first strike with it, is guaranteed to succeed instead of killing you."

Zachary placed his head in his hands, feeling quite stupid for not thinking about that, "Yes please." He said, muffled by his palms.

Eris allowed herself a laugh at his expense, a gorgeous golden arrow formed before her newest champion, along with a long black metal chain that pooled at his feet.

He left the arrow to float for a moment, grabbing the chain and rolling it up around his arm for the moment, before plucking the arrow from the air and twirling it between his fingers.

"I wish you luck in your quest, Mr. Waller." Eris said, standing from her chair, Zachary mirroring her as he bowed his head slightly.

"I'll try to avoid screwing up your world." He promised with a chuckle, making her slightly nervous.

"Please do."

Before Zachary could ask though he was standing in a field outside of what appeared to be some kind of city, a rolling landscape sprawling behind him and a stone path before him.

"Oh… well then."

Looking into his hand he shrugged, the arrow gleaming temptingly in the light.

Without another word he took a deep breath and stabbed himself in the stomach with it, immediately regretting it because even if he'd just died it was by no means a good idea to just stab oneself in the stomach with an arrow.

**Jojo'ing the story. **

**Gonna take a different approach to this one.**

**I like to look at each of my stories as checkpoints in life, as wanky as it sounds humour me for a second, so when I first started it had a very specific taste to it. **

**Which was boring, the taste was boring.**

**Then we had the edgy phase, which involved Imagine Magic and a few of the surrounding ones.**

**After that we had the way too much sexual content that covered the rest of the themes and building blocks that should have been put in place.**

**Then power fantasy with no characteristics.**

**And now… I dunno what I'd even call what I'm doing with myself now, gradually adulting? **

**My personal life changes how I see the world and how I view my own entertainment, as some of you may have figured out from my bludgeoning you over the head with mentioning it, my mother died and so the past year or so I've been trying to human again, which was why I got rid of that fucking travesty that was my DXD story.**

**What I'm trying to say is that I as a person change, and I feel like I'm doing that again.**


	2. Master Explosion

**I will not be judged for the things that I put in this story.**

Being found with an arrow in the gut and dragged to the 'guild' was an interesting way to meet new people, all kindsa folks milling about.

Eventually someone kicked a door and dragged him into the guild proper, a healer was called for and he was placed on a table, some young woman in white robes rushed over, "Take off his shirt I need to see the damage!"

Doing as ordered some jackanape cut his shirt and held his arms out.

"This doesn't look like any kind of arrow I've seen before." Said the Priest with a murmur, "Anyone else?"

"Can't say I have."

"That's a negative."

She waved her staff over him, and he'd already well and truly felt some kind of fever set in, Zac's vision was cloudy at best but he could hear well enough, though the pounding in his head wasn't helping that.

What kind of Stand would he get?

Good gods, he should have just asked for one instead of the arrow, even if the arrow would allow for shenanigans.

All chatter suddenly shut down as a technicolour light show emitted from the wounded man on the table.

The Priest cursed and tried to cast a healing spell only for it to not take effect, "Everyone get down!"

A room full of armoured and armed men and women leapt to the floor in almost perfect sync as a rainbow light flashed through the entire building.

This went on for several minutes, off-set only by the groaning of the man on the table, the priests ears perked as she heard something shuffling about.

Curiously peeking her head up she noticed the man was standing on his own and twirling the arrow between the fingers of his right hand while patting down his stomach with his left, frowning.

"Y-you're okay?" She asked, completely confused.

"Yep. Dunno what you did but it must've worked a treat!" He praised with a grin, "Thanks for the save."

"Wh-what happened to you?" She asked, standing up quickly followed by her curious peers.

"Whaddaya mean?" The stranger asked curiously, tilting his head slightly.

Instead of answering she just pointed behind him.

A tall creature that seemed to be made of light pink armour with golden skulls on its black gloves, shoulders, and black trunks all worked and matched with a pair of black gladiator sandals on its feet. It's eyes were completely pink except for the white split pupils, giving it a somewhat off-putting look.

"Well isn't that fun." He thought aloud, he didn't know what he expected but the pink cat itself was probably what made him happiest.

Whilst he was pondering that, pink-cat sunk back into his body.

"Regardless because of your immeasurably marvelous bedside manner, I am healed. Thank you ever so much." He gave a gracious bow, whilst a few of the other guild members clapped the priest on the back.

"Well done!"

"Can you give me a giant cat?!"

"You say the dumbest things."

The priest was baffled as the showy young man shuffled off to the counter and leaned on it.

"So what'd you do, Raimi?" Asked one of her party members, the warrior Leopold, a massive man with plate armour and war-axe on his back, he was tanned and bald, a man from the desert regions of The Continent.

"I didn't do anything!" She hissed, pulling the warrior down to her level, "Something is up with that arrow! It started glowing before everything else."

"Probably some magical artefact then… should we take it?" The groups Thief Astra, a wispy boy with blue hair and golden eyes, his kleptomania was matched only by his voyeurism.

"It would be best to just watch him for now, make sure he's not some plant for the Demon King or something." Raimi ordered quietly.

Zachary was looking at his brand spanking new guild card with a pleased look on his face, the wonderful attendant Luna had helped him get it all sorted together and given him a simple kill-quest to get the funds together to pay for admission.

**[Zachary A. Waller Lv. 0**

**Pugilist 0**

**Strength: 15 Dexterity: 14**

**Constitution: 10 Intelligence: 20**

**Wisdom: 21 Luck: 19]**

He figured if he was gonna Jo the Jo he may as well Ora the Ora - if he was gonna talk the talk he should walk the walk - and so picked a Job that would let him smash things in the face with his man-fists.

He wandered out of the guild and through the gorgeous streets of Axel - the city he was in - it was surrounded by a sturdy wall but the whole place was awash with activity, sure he stuck out like a sore thumb but he was never one to shy away from attention.

And when he wanted to, he could just find a nice quiet spot to avoid human interaction for a few hours.

The streets of Axel were all relatively straightforward, there were signs that pointed in various directions, the town was split into quarters, with the guards and guild inhabiting one, the trade district and craftsmen district taking two, and the residential district being the last.

Within them were sub-sections, like Noble Houses and such but they were relatively few so they weren't overtly important.

The fields outside Axel were quite lovely, he took a moment to admire the small hillocks and radiantly green grasses, the sky was blue and spotted with lazy clouds, truly it was a magnificent day!

Though that was suddenly interrupted by the raucous laughter and shrieks of small green men.

A few goblins took to the field, chasing a giant toad whilst riding small wolves, running forward he threw a hand out, "**Fiendish Chain!**"

The black chains leapt out of his hands and sunk into the ground, shadows formed under all of the creatures and hungry black chains leapt from the ground to pin them down.

"Nnnnnoice." The young man said, quite pleased with himself, looking around he spotted a few loose clumps of dirt, "**Killer Queen!**"

The Pink Cat appeared behind him and took the dirt from him, as it touched one of the clumps it became ensnared in wicked purple energy, "**Primary Bomb!**"

Killer Queen threw the dirt at one of the goblins and upon contact it exploded in a violent shower of flames and concussive force, the goblin was reduced to nothingness, and so the chains surrounding it retracted.

"Alright, that's about usual…" He looked to the Pink Cat and pondered, it seemed to stare back at him like it was examining his very soul, which in some circles could be considered Killer Queen itself.

"So what would the difference between you and the others be?" Each Stand was changed depending on who controlled it.

For example, Kira Yoshikage of Part 4 used Killer Queen to get away with his murders, the Pink Cat could reduce anything to atoms _or_ create a localised explosion that did the same, but faster.

Jojolyon Kira was actually a Joestar, he was the Jotaro stand in and so his values and mind worked differently to the serial killer, whereas Kira of Part 4 used it for villainy, Kira of the new world was a man of medicine.

He was a surgeon, or a medic something to that effect, and so could use **Sheer Heart Attack** in different ways, for example he could create multiple copies that could be sized in any way, he could make them as small and precise as he needed, so small that he could destroy a clot of blood in a vein.

Or he could make them bigger, Zachary wasn't sure how big but he didn't assume it would be enormous.

He did feel a little antsy about missing out on Stray Cat, the adorable plant that could spit air bubbles.

Killer Queen poked his cheek getting his attention, looking up at the floating Pink Cat he did so, "Yes my dear?"

The Stand made no move to react or comment to being addressed aside from plucking a short hair from it's masters head and showing said master what would happen next.

Infusing the hair with the **Primary Bomb** Killer Queen flicked the hair directly at the toad, the hair sunk into the toad and suddenly it swelled in size, stretching against the chains binding it. Small hairs grew out of its reptilian skin and like a deflating balloon it sent dozens of quill like projectiles into the surrounding enemies.

Each of them exploded with the same potency of the **Primary Bomb.**

Zachary whistled in appreciate, taking one of Killer Queen's hands into his own and patting it gently, "Good kitty."

The Pink Cat gave him a thumbs up before disappearing into its master.

"Better behaved than my actual cat." Complained the young man, shaking his head.

"I heard an explosion!"

"Sweet jesus!" Screamed the man, turning rapidly as Killer Queen popped as as it did the ground around Zachary glowed menacingly purple, a different secondary bomb, **Just Fantasy**.

It was like someone was shouting information in his head as it appeared, **Just Fantasy** would create a bomb that set whenever he felt sudden, sharp fear.

Given how he died, that made sense.

It would repel whatever stepped near him and had enough force behind it to launch whatever it was away from him, and break a few bones.

"Was it you!" Demanded the noisy creature.

It was a young woman, wearing what would have been a bad witch cosplay in his world, but seemed more in line in the new one.

She had a red tunic on with brown leather boots, a short cloak across her shoulders and a wide brimmed hat atop her raven head, her visible eye was red whilst the other was behind a patch.

"Why are you standing like that?" The girl asked curiously.

It must be a Stand thing because he'd someone pulled off a pose whilst spinning on his heel and having a momentary freak out.

Refusing to admit anything he pointed at her and frowned.

"It helps me channel my magic more efficiently." He dropped his voice a few levels and kept a straight face whilst trying _very_ hard not to laugh.

She made to step towards him, Killer Queen threw a rock that was primed at her hat and sent it sailing off her head before detonating it.

The menacing pink cat hovered protectively behind its master, the girl mourned the loss of her hat before realising what had happened.

"It _was_ you! What is that thing? How did it do that? Tell me the secrets of your explosions!" Killer Queen hovered closer and stuck its face in front of hers, the girl felt a chill before taking a few steps back.

Zachary stepped over **Just Fantasy **and stood with his hands in his jacket pockets, "If you wanna be totally specific, Killer Queen is the one that creates the explosions, I just kinda point them towards stuff."

She looked at the looming cat who was making threatening gestures at her and looked to the smiling man before her, "So… how does it work?"

He quirked a brow, "You run up on strangers, scare the crap outta them and then ask how their abilities work often? Or am I just special?"

Her eye shimmered, "Of course you're special, you walk the path of explosion! Unlike so many uncultured savages! I am Megumin of the Crimson Demon Clan! An Arch-Wizard who walks the path, previously alone but now no longer!"

Her serious introduction was somewhat ruined by his clapping, "Nice, I like the showmanship and enthusiasm, but I have no earthly idea what you're talking about, 'path of explosion'?"

Megumin smirked devilishly and strode past him, careful to avoid the purple ring on the ground, "Allow me show you my might!"

"Should probably find a target, eh?" He asked, getting a firm nod from her.

He looked around for a moment, before he spotted a few giant toads about a kilometre away, "What's your range like?"

"Whatever I can see, though the closer I am the more accurate I can make it." Megumin informed, getting a nod, he gestured and began walking.

"So… what's your name?" She asked curiously, the man was much taller than she was, he was dressed in a lot of black, and his shirt was open, like _cut_ open, revealing his chest and stomach.

It was a nice enough stomach, she concluded.

"I'm Zachary, you can just call me Zac. This is Killer Queen, he's my **Stand**. Essentially my soul manifested into a solid form, with a bag of tricks."

Her eye glimmered again, "Your very _soul_ burns with the righteous explosion! Truly I have found my equal in life!"

He fanned himself and grinned, "My oh my, buy me dinner before you say something so bold!"

Realising what she said she hastily explained, "We-well I'm a young woman so I can't do that-even if you have a soul of explosive power, I-I-I."

"Calm down firecracker, I was kidding." he assured, patting her head and jogging ahead of her.

The little lady chased after him, not liking where their conversation was left.

Zachary threw a few rocks he'd swiped off the ground to his Stand and Killer Queen charged all of them before throwing them towards the quickly approaching toads, the heavy thuds of Zachary's boots drawing their attention.

The various coloured toads all turned to get a piece of that action.

The explosive rocks collided with the ground in front of several of the toads, knocking them off balance, "**Fiendish Chain!**"

The chain once more leapt from his person into the ground and wrapped up the half-dozen giant froggos.

He turned back to Megumin, they were a good couple hundred metres from the giant toads, "Alright, do your thing."

**End**

**Gonna toy with Killer Queen a little more but it'll effectively be the same magic explosion cat.**

**Hope you enjoyed it, lemme know what you thought.**

_**Raxychaz!**_


	3. Spirits of a Feather

**Yes, I did it! Bite za Dusto!**

"**Explosion!**" A massive red storm of magic coalesced around the bound toads, and within moments a single spark grew into a mighty explosion, potent enough to send the stand user off his feet for a moment, Killer Queen was superimposed over his body and helped him keep his footing though.

Megumin stood fast but wobbled as she lost all of her energy, the explosion dissipated and with it, a chunk of the landscape.

Just as quickly as the explosion subsided, Megumin collapsed on the ground with a flop, much like a frog ironically.

Zac walked over to the downed girl and nudged her, "You alive?"

She sighed contently, "I only have enough energy to cast **Explosion** once, I can't move for another few minutes… so I'll need you to carry me."

The older of the two snorted and laughed like a hyena, something he'd been told ad nauseam in his past life, "I appreciate the hustle, but my good lord that's gotta be the dumbest thing I've ever heard."

Megumin looked up at him, heavily offended, "I must have the most powerful representation of my one true path at all times! I can't waste skill points on anything else!"

Zachary kicked her in the side, not with any great force but with enough to show his displeasure, but he'd already figured out how to talk to the girl, she was so hyper focused on one specific thing that one needed to appeal to her focus to get anywhere.

"You think that this is a good way to go about it? If you only put points into damage you'll never be able to truly walk the path." He said, crossing his arms and frowning.

"If you put points into mana capacity and spell efficiency you'll be able to use **Explosion** more often. Given how much it must take to cast, getting a percentage cost reduction alone would make your life much easier."

Megumin looked up at him for a moment, thoughtful.

She bowed her head - which was interesting considering she was laying down - "I submit to your words, oh wise teacher."

Zachary threw her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and placed a hand on her lower back to keep her steady, "Fine-fine, whatever let's get you back to the guild I've got a quest to hand in."

"Such a kind master of explosions." The little lady said with a big smile on her face.

Zachary rolled his eyes and smirked, "More along the lines of **Master Exploder**, Speedwagon."

"Who?"

"You're my Speedwagon, I've decided."

"Ah...Ah! I see you must be from a different land, Speedwagon-is that what you call your apprentice?"

Zac snorted and muffled his laugh behind his free hand, "Exactly, Speedwagon. Exactly."

**Axel - Guild**

"...and that's your pay, excluding the registration fee and your lunch. Please enjoy your time with the guild." Luna, the blonde woman that dealt with the nitty gritty of daily guild life.

"Cheers darl'." The man said as he walked back to the table the firecracker had chosen, "So tiny spark-demon, whaddaya wanna do?"

"What do you mean, Teacher?" She asked earnestly.

"I mean, aside from big explosions do you have any other kind of goal?" The older of the two questioned, tentatively biting into a fried frog leg.

It wasn't too bad, all things considered, but frog had without a doubt the wierdest fucking consistency he'd ever tasted.

"Ah! Well, I suppose to become the foremost magical expert in evocation magic. I may only walk the path of **Explosion** but your wisdom has taught me that even spells without bombastic results have… some merit." She almost spat out the words but it seemed she was being truthful.

"Magic is a utility that has many applications." He agreed, though kept it generally diplomatic, "I aim to take out the Demon King, eventually. Short term is to attain mastery with **Killer Queen** and even shorter term would be to find a house to live in."

"Well..." Megumin looked a little shy as she spoke, "If we were to form a proper party we could conquer quests much faster than on our own… and earn enough money to buy a house."

The man grinned, "Sure, works for me… besides I was gonna use the rest of the day to just take some basic quests. I'm sure doing some deliveries and stuff'll make orienting myself a lot easier."

"Delivery quests are a great way to gain lots of skill points, but not so great for 's how I managed to acquire **Explosion** so soon." Megumin informed helpfully, "Though they're mostly used for pocket money, instead of actual money."

Zachary pulled out his guild card and flicked it over.

**[Skills**

**Pugilist **

**Heavy Strike Rank 1 0/mp; 15 phys. Dmg. +Str +Dex**

**Skill Points: 5]**

"Hmm…" The man considered for a moment, as of that moment he was only a second level Pugilist, and hadn't used any points so he must have gotten a few from doing the Toad Quest as well.

"Would it not be more efficient to just do the frog quest over and over?" Zachary asked curiously, thinking aloud more than directly asking his new partner.

"It would but eventually you'll have to go further and further to find Giant _Toads_ whereas 1-Star delivery quests are always in the city." The little witch amended, getting an understanding nod from her 'teacher'.

"That makes sense… though I think it'll be smarter to do a repeat hunt for the moment, it's only about 11 so that means we've got plenty of daylight left… if we hunt _toads_ again we'll get four skill points per 5 and _then_ do delivery quests for the rest of the afternoon… that work for you?"

"Whatever you say, Teacher." The Demon Clan Arch-Wizard deferred to his plan easily enough.

'_That's either going to go from annoying to endearing or just annoying real quick._' The man thought but nodded regardless, "Killer Queen-" the magic pink cat appeared beside him on the bench looking a little board.

"How far can you go from me?" Killer Queen looked off to its right in thought before counting on its fingers and presenting it's master with 15.

"Metres…?" The man guessed, gaining a nod from the cat, "Ah well, there goes the idea of having you run deliveries independent of me, never mind."

Killer Queen looked at his cup and nudged it towards the edge of the table, "Oi!"

The pink cat looked at it's master and saw his severe look, "No."

Killer Queen tipped the cup off the table while retaining unblinking eye contact, it's master frowned, "You little shit."

The Pink Cat didn't even look like it was pleased with annoying him, "I'm going to learn a basic water spell and spray you if you keep this up."

Killer Queen hissed and disappeared back into its master, before he could follow through on his threat.

Zachary snickered and picked up his cup, it was made of wood so it wasn't going to just shatter on him because his cat was being a dick, "Cheeky sod."

"Is that normal?" Megumin asked, somewhat wonderstruck by the interaction her teacher had with the personification of his soul.

"It very well may be, I'm still new to all this to be honest." He admitted getting an understanding nod from the girl, "Well finish up and we'll head off, imma take my plate back to the kitchen."

His plate was empty aside from the inedible scraps so he placed it on the counter for the staff to pick up, it was somewhat expected where he grew up to help out the people that fed out even if it was small conveniences.

"Hey, goth guy!" A new voice called out to him, getting the blond man's attention, he saw a brown haired youth in a green tracksuit with equally green eyes to himself actually, he had fair skin that was a little sun-starved, and was probably a good few inches shorter than himself.

"Are you new here too?" He asked, coming up to the Australian man.

Zachary blinked for a moment but nodded, "Yeah, first day."

"No-no I mean… _new-new_." The younger man said conspiratorially.

Zac winked and nodded, "Just got brought back."

The younger man sighed in relief, "Thank god, I thought I'd have to do all this stuff on my own, I was kinda worried… I'm Satou Kazuma, from Japan. Yourself?"

"Zachary Waller, Australia." Zac offered his hand and Kazuma took it, "So what'd you bring with you?"

Kazuma lifted his hand and pulled up his sleeve to show off a silver bracelet with a snake eating its own tail, "**Aurobourus' Hunger** any mana I spend on spells is refunded, and I got the **Lucky** blessing."

Zac nodded, "Nice-nice, I decided to go a little silly and brought this, **Stand Arrow** with me, along with the **Fiendish Chains.**" The Austrlian pulled the golden arrow from his belt and twirled it making Kazuma a little bug-eyed.

"You watched JoJo's?" The younger man asked, a little awed.

Zachary grinned, "Of course, it was hilarious."

The brown haired boy gave a small sound of curiosity, "Huh, didn't expect someone like you to enjoy something like that."

"I wear the Goth uniform, but I'm not some miserable sod." Kazuma laughed and nodded.

"I'd offer you to take a _stab_ at it, but I dunno what the success rate would be." Zachary said, stashing it back onto his belt.

Kazuma looked a little pale, "I'd rather not at the moment… given how many people bit the dust in the manga…"

Zachary boomed with laughter and leaned back before pointed at the younger man, Killer Queen appearing and copying the stance, "How very apt, for I posses **Killer Queen!**"

Kazuma all but leapt away in shock, "W-what!?"

"You're next line will be, my god you look so handsome!"

"No it won't! That isn't even the right reference!"

"HAHAHAH!"

The entire guild looked as the black clad man doubled over and laughed like a hyena, or something adjacent to it, laughing on an intake instead of an outtake made a weird noise.

Kazuma quickly followed, not laughing at anything funny but at the truly bizarre noise coming from the other man's mouth.

Killer Queen tripped Kazuma for laughing at it's master, Zachary stood up and looked around at the amused faces of his peers, years of highschool bullshit had taught him that drawing attention to an insecurity only made people dig at it more.

So instead he smiled, "I'm aware how it sounds, believe me."

"Ah, it ain't that bad youngun." An _older_ member of the guild said, chuckling to himself.

"You should hear Duck's laugh, he sounds like he's being strangled!"

Leopold, from his introduction to the guild giggled like a little girl when 'Duck' was mentioned, before blushing at the attention it drew.

Zachary had found his people.

**Axel Field**

Having put all his skill points into **Heavy Strike** Zachary had come to a conclusion, as it seemed skills had no cap on how much you are able to put into them.

He'd pick maybe a handful of skills to jam all his points into and use only those. He'd need a short-range skill - which he had - a long range skill, maybe a heal of some kind, and then a defensive ability.

He'd potentially expand it further, but with his memory it'd be best to keep it to a lower amount.

**Heavy Strike Rank 6 0/mp; 90 Phys. Dmg. +Str +Dex**

Toads were resistant to physical damage, but they weren't resistant to him using **Killer Queen**'s **Primary Bomb **on his own hand and delivering it with the force of a small car.

For some reason his explosions didn't affect him, so it was an easy way to get solid damage on pretty much anything, even creatures with resistance.

It helped that Kazuma was willing to come along, whilst Megumin would get skill points and cash for participating in simple hunts, she wouldn't get anything aside from quest-turn-in experience, as she wasn't participating in the kills.

'_The girl needs darts or a sling to tag mobs to get exp_.' Zac thought as his **Fiendish Chains** returned to his wrist.

Kazuma held out his hand that sparked with a warm orange glow, "**Fire 1!**" A baseball sized fireball shot out of his hand and blasted a Giant Toad in the eye making it hop around madly in pain, "**Fire 1!**"

Whilst he didn't have the bullshit of Killer Queen to help him, Kazuma was doing really well with his first few spells, it made Zac oddly proud, it must be whatever meagre paternal instincts he had, seeing younger people do well.

"HELP!"

"Why'd you draw more idiot!" Kazuma screeched at the little Witch.

Zachary sighed, Killer Queen threw a rock at one of the Toad's chasing Megumin, it's head exploded and it flopped wetly against the ground.

"**Fire 1!**"

A second rock cut through the air and killed off the one Kazuma had tagged, this repeated a few more times before the field was filled with dead toads.

Kazuma took a calming breath before taking out his card and fiddling with it, "Two points into **Fire**… one to unlock **Blizzard**."

"Megumin, you all good?" The tallest of them asked, getting a shaky nod from his 'student'.

The smell of dead toad crept to his nose and it wrinkled reflexively, "Maybe we should get outta here. Those deliveries aren't gonna make themselves."

**End**

**Yeah, no Aqua.**

**Figured it'd change things up more.**

**Adding in a functional Kazuma I figured he'd be generally less dickish with his own two feet to stand on.**

**As for Eris handling Zac's case, it's just a matter of getting one handler or another as far as I'm concerned.**

**Lemme know what you think, hope you enjoyed it.**

_**Raxychaz!**_


	4. Statistics of Party Management

**Welcome back Jobro's.**

After performing another frog hunt and about 4 delivery quests each they were a little stacked for skill points and more than filled with experience to get some hearty levels, Zac was immensely pleased with their effort for the day, especially considering that his two party members had actually _listened_ to his words.

Megumin was a sure thing, she thought the sun shon when he bent over, but Kazuma was a little bit of a variable, regardless the younger man seemed more than content with someone else making the decisions for the first day at least.

Zachary had personally netted a good 22 extra skill points from quests alone, 8 from two toad hunts, and 14 from deliveries, each delivery quest was worth 2 points a piece, along with another 10 from just levels, so he'd ended up with a grand total of 32.

With Killer Queen he was able to Stand Leap - which used the strength of his Stand to jump great distances - though considering his magic pink cat wasn't a 'Punching Ghost' like for example Star Platinum, he wasn't soaring through the air like a bird, he still quickened his pace considerably.

His card looked thusly.

**[Zachary A. Waller Lv. 10**

'**Master Exploder'**

**HP: 310**

**MP: 300**

**Pugilist 10/**

**Strength: 51 Dexterity: 61**

**Constitution: 21 Intelligence: 27**

**Wisdom: 31 Luck: 31]**

**Active Skills **

**Heavy Strike Rank 30 0/mp 450 Phys. +Str +Dex**

**Passive Skills**

**Quickened Movement; Movement speed is increased by 15%**

**Skill Points 2**

He was quite pleased, he left the last two because he figured having a few in reserve would be fine.

He'd gotten a decent passive from Pugilist as well, and considering it was just a basic job that was the best he was going to get unless he unlocked Monk.

He wasn't going to unlock Monk.

No, after chatting with a few of his guildmates he'd decided to go into Barbarian to gain the **Rage** skill, which would allow him to temporarily double his damage. Though it would put him into a fog so his mind wouldn't be as sharp.

The other benefit of Barbarian was that they had the **Natural Armour** ability, so he wouldn't have to worry about spending money on suits of plate or leather, and really only had to worry about replacing his boots, as they were _not_ made to run in.

Also he could just flex on people by ignoring damage he'd taken and posing at them, purely for his own amusement.

Given that **Natural Armour** didn't have any skill ranks, and neither did **Rage** he was only going into Barbarian enough to get those two skills, and the passive **Heavy Build** which would give him a percentage boost to his Strength and Constitution.

It was only 5% but it was a passive that would be more than worth it down the road.

He was drawn out of his planning when Megumin sat across from him, looking exhausted, "So much running…" She muttered pitifully.

Zac reached across and pat her head, "How ya feelin' sweetheart?" He asked gently.

"Tired." She mumbled, almost sulkily.

"Do you want some food, will that make you feel better?" The tone in his voice was so close to patronising, but he managed to keep it leashed just enough that she wouldn't notice.

The small witch nodded pitifully whilst Zac flagged down a waitress.

"Can I get her something to help her wear off some of her fatigue before bed?" He asked, not exactly knowing _what_ to get the smallest of his party, but the redheaded waitress seemed to have the perfect idea and nodded happily, "And two meads for the table please, and some juice for the sprout."

The waitress snickered in her hand as Megumin seemed to be on her way to dreamland and rushed off to get the order filled.

"So, how'd the deliveries go?" Megumin, instead of talking, just passed her card over.

**[Megumin Crimson Lv. 9**

**HP: 240**

**MP: 970**

**Arch-Wizard 9**

**Strength: 8 Dexterity: 15**

**Constitution: 14 Intelligence: 107**

**Wisdom: 25 Luck: 35]**

**Skills**

**Explosion Rank 5 1500/mp 2500 Fire Damage +Int +Wis**

**Skill Points 15**

It would seem she'd not spent any points yet, and wasn't in any position to argue given her exhaustion, doing some quick maths he figured she'd gotten 8 from the two hunts, one from leveling up - as she was already level 8 upon arrival apparently - and 6 from doing her errands, all in all not bad from a small child.

A little deviously he started fiddling with her card whilst she lamented existence.

Putting four points into **Mana Efficiency** which she would have gotten if she started as a normal Wizard instead of Arch-Wizard, then the last 5 into **Fire Blast** which was an instant cast blast of fire that then set the target on fire dealing damage over time.

Finally he put another 4 points into a basic **Fire Arrow** spell, it worked effectively as a free spell for casters to use as filler between bigger spells.

**Skills**

**Explosion Rank 5 1500(1380)/mp 2500 Fire Damage +Int +Wis**

**Fire Blast Rank 5 25(23)/mp 125 Fire Damage +Int +Wis**

**Fire Arrow Rank 4 0/mp 20 Fire Damage +Int +Wis**

**Passive Skills**

**Mana Efficiency Rank 4: Reduces the cost of spells by 8% increased Mana Regeneration by 16%.**

He passed the card back to her and was a little surprised that she didn't even bother checking it, instead wolfing down that food that was put in front of her, a hearty bowl of porridge with cream and fruit, paired with a plate of grilled chicken and vegetables.

An interesting combo, but he liked both of those so he could get behind it.

She all but choked before downing a mouthful of juice, "Slow your roll, Speedwagon." He put on his best teacher voice to scold her whilst cracking a grin at the inside joke he had all to himself.

"Can't talk. Eating."

How precious.

"Fuck delivery quests." Kazuma said as he sagged into the seat beside the Stand User, Zac chuckled at the bedraggled looking japanese boy who just flipped him off in return.

"How many did you get done?" The leader of the party felt compelled to ask.

"Only four, because the old lady from the smithy wouldn't shut up about her grandson who 'Looks just like you young man!'." Kazuma grouched as he mimicked the old woman.

"So why didn't you just excuse yourself?" The blond asked, leaning on a propped up arm and leaning into the table.

"Because if I ever want to do any business with the geezer that runs the joint I'm not gonna piss off his wife." Kazuma replied breathily, sighing in resignation.

"So between that the hunts and level up a few times I've walked away with 20 Skill points. I spent a few upgrading **Fire 1 **to **Fireball** and then a few more into **Blizzard** and grabbed the **Grease **spell for utility along with **Find Familiar** because it's broken." Kazuma said, the ales had arrived and he took a heavy gulp before ordering himself something to eat.

"How's it broken?" Zachary asked curiously.

"I can use my familiar as a focus, so I can cast directly through it, that means that positioning isn't going to mean jack shit to me, I can just summon my familiar behind something and blast it in the back while you and Megumin take it from the front." Kazuma chuckled to himself before looking at the youngest of their group.

"Most likely just you though."

"I used her weakened state to make her learn something aside from **Explosion** so we'll make a working mage out of her yet." Zachary said with a chuckle, "I like your idea though, solid planning ahead of time."

"You did what?" Megumin asked, suddenly snapping back to reality grabbing her card and screaming to the heavens, "HOW COULD YOU TEACHER!"

"If we want to go dungeon crawling I can't have you burying us with a single spell." Zachary said, a stern look on his face, ignoring the waterworks she was putting on, "Besides, **Fireblast **and **Fire Arrow** are basically just smaller scaled explosions."

"What about your **Killer Queen **then!? Will you not use it if we enter a dungeon!?" She demanded, if she had to suffer an explosionless existence whenever spelunking her master had to as well!

Killer Queen appeared and gave her a very solid stare, "**Killer Queen**'s abilities are _much_ more controlled than your glorified nuke, Megu." Zachary said with a shake of his head, he shuddered for a moment, "The idea of going underground freaks me out enough as is, I'm not gonna go down with you not being able to assist."

The leader turned to the other Wizard, "Can I see your card?"

Kazuma snorted, "Hell no, I'm not letting you anywhere near my card Mr. Fiddles."

Zachary grinned, "Not the worst I've ever been called, fair copy though."

"So many points… that could have gone towards my beautiful **Explosion**…" The girl sobbed, whilst scarfing down spoonful after spoonful of porridge, "It's scho good…"

"No talking with your mouth full, darling." Zachary scolded, finally ordering his own food, a steak with potatoes, two warm buns with butter, and some seasoned chicken breast.

He was a very fucking hungry boy.

Kazuma went with chicken and vegetables, he figured he'd try to eat healthy for at least a few days.

After a few minutes of waiting for their dinner, the table had fallen into a comfortable, warm quiet as they ate together.

Zac felt a warm kind of euphoria, '_This is really nice._'

**Axel Guild - Morning**

"So, I reckon we could go on a higher stakes mission... " Zac said, as he pulled off a few fliers from the board, "We've got a couple hill giants harassing the northern roads, a goblin incursion to the east, they've apparently taken over a small outpost. Or maybe a little aquatic fun to the east, a lake has been playing host to a magic hydra that's been shitting out monsters."

Kazuma looked like he'd swallowed a lemon, "Really took it up a notch with that last one, eh?"

"Well Megumin can probably nuke the lake and we can deal with anything that crawls out." Zac said simply, shrugging. "It's one of the few quests that we could probably do a lot easier than some higher level people."

The Wizard had to agree with that, given how thoroughly busted Megumin's magic was, "I suppose that's a good point."

The red eyed girl almost shimmered with glee, "Let's go to the lake!"

"One vote for the lake!" Zachary turned to Kazuma, as did Megumin, the newbie wizard grimaced and sighed, "That's two, and I'm more than happy to go!"

"Yay…" Kazuma slammed his head against the table whilst his party members grinned and high-fived.

Zachary leant back onto his right foot and thought for a moment though, "I've gotta get some new boots, because I can't run in these… and we should probably get some potions or something… Megumin, why haven't you invested in mana potions before?"

The girl blinked before sheepishly chuckling, "Well the funny thing is… before I started working with you and Kazuma I'd um… never had a party before? So all the money I made had to go towards feeding myself."

A noise came from Kazuma that sounded vaguely like amusement but Zachary just nodded, "We'll grab a couple of them while we're at it."

"Anything else?" Kazuma asked, leaning back into his chair and looking at his team.

"Maybe some fishing rods?" The Stand User said with a grin, getting a kick to the foot for his effort.

**Axel Marketplace**

"So this is the place?" Kazuma looked up at the slightly out of the way shop simply called 'Wiz's Magic Shop'.

"Apparently, a few of the others mentioned this place a few times. Though I never really listened beyond that." Megumin admitted, sheepish once more.

Zachary, now donning a fresh new pair of kicks, walked into the store first, immediately he noticed it was a lot cosier than other stores he'd seen, they were very open with lots of natural light, where Wiz's Shop had the curtains drawn about ¾ of the way with several candles floating around to provide extra light, there were a handful of small isles with shelves acting as dividers, each shelf was packed with magical nick-nacks.

A few blue vials sat on the edge of one of the shelves, which he made a b-line for.

Megumin and Kazuma were quick to follow him in, though one of them stopped to admire the proprietress of the establishment.

A woman with a warm looking expression on her face, long auburn hair and skin that whilst a little paler than usual, looked very soft.

'_Also look at those boobs!_' Kazuma thought, excited at the prospect, Megumin was as flat as a board, and had a shitty attitude as far as he was concerned, definitely not girlfriend material.

But this beautiful nee-san, she had grace, and a body blessed with splendor!

"I sense a disturbance." Megumin muttered to her senior, Zachary snorted and picked up one of the vials.

'_Minor Mana Potion, restores 15% of total mana_.' That would work well enough for his intentions, basically it was to see if Megumin could dish out multiple **Explosions** in one sitting if she was fed mana.

'_2500_ _eris each though, that's a little more than I'd expect from such a basic item but regardless I'll grab two and come back if it works._' He handed two of the thin blue vials to Megumin and then looked around further.

_Alchemist's Fire: Explodes with corrosive poison on contact, that burns blue when struck with a flame._

_Ironskin Flask: Turns the drinkers skin to iron, making them much more durable, but also slower._

_Iceblood Flask: Turns the drinkers blood to ice, giving them immunity to frost damage and resistance to extremely hot temperatures._

He didn't really need any of these other potions but they were interesting to know about, he approached the desk and could all but smell the perverse aura that Kazuma was… emitting.

'_Damn boy, calm yo self._'

**End of Chapter**

**Lemme know what you thought lads.**

**I'll see you soon.**

_**Raxychaz!**_


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